People Australia

Jim McCarthy, 1910

Sydney Mail, 12 October 1910, p 32

James Florence Hains (Jim) McCarthy (also known as MacCarthy) (1875-1940) tramway officer and trade union official

Birth: 1875 at Bellinger River, New South Wales, son of Florence John (or James) MacCarthy (1840-1928), a farmer later miner, born in Meath, Ireland, and native-born Ann, née Marshall or Pearce (1852-1923). Marriages: (1) 1899 at Parkes, NSW, to Florence May Chapman. They had no children. (2) Apparently had a daughter in 1908 with Walburg Marie Freudereich, known as McCarthy, born at Glatz, Germany. Death: 16 August 1940 in hospital at Darlinghurst, Sydney; late of Kellett Street, Kings Cross. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• First employment was with the Harbours and Rivers Department. Deep Creek mines started nearby and he started work in metalliferous mines and continued in many areas of NSW and Queensland. Joined Amalgamated Miners’ Association in 1893.
• Joined Tramway Service in 1899 and became active in the Tramway Employees’ Union in the early part of the union’s history.
• Reorganised Ocean Street depot and assisted in its growth. Member of the committee of management of the Tramway Employees’ Union. Vice-president in 1902-1010, he was president from 1910 to about 1917.
• Represented the union on the Sydney Labor Council, Eight Hour Committee and on the grand council of the Railway and Tramway Employees Union.
• Contested Woollahra seat for the Australian Labor Party in the State Legislative Assembly in September 1910, when he gave his occupation as insurance agent.
• On his death certificate he was described as a retired railway officer. Cause of death: pneumonia and bronchiectasis.

Sources
Railway and Tramway Record, 15 February 1905, 15 September 1908, 15 September 1910, 12 June 1917 p 1.